26/06/2026
AITA for not letting my ex see our son?
When I was 20, I got pregnant. The father was my boyfriend of 3 years. He said he was excited and wanted this, but quickly began expressing doubts, and when I was around 8 months pregnant he said it was too much for him and he didn't want this. He left, and was never put on the birth certificate.
The next time I saw my ex was when our son was 3, nearly 4. He came to my place and told me he'd gotten a flat 10 minutes from my house because he realised he fu**ed up and wanted to be a dad to our son. I said I needed to know he'd put in the effort, and arranged for him to meet me every 2 weeks for 2 months to discuss our son, then after 2 months I began bringing our son. My lawyer recommended 6-12 months of supervised visitation before putting his name on the birth certificate and agreeing on custody. 6 months after my ex started seeing our son he sent me a text saying he couldn't do this, and never showed up again. This really upset our son, who knew my ex was his dad and had been told by my ex that he'd be getting custody, and the two of them had really started to bond, and his dad just disappearing gave him abandonment issues - for a month after that he was scared to go to pre school in case I never picked him up, and if my boyfriend spent the night at his place my son would worry he wouldn't...